China’s moon rover suffers ‘abnormality’, lunar surface blamed

A photograph of the giant screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows photo of the Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit" lunar rover taken by the camera on the Chang'e 3 probe during the mutual-photograph process, in Beijing (Reuters / Stringer) / Reuters

The Chinese moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs. The difficult environment was blamed for the malfunction.

The mission, called Chang'e-3, landed on the Moon on December 14,
and was the third successful attempt to soft-land a spacecraft after
the US and Russia (at the time of the landing – the Soviet
Union).

In total, 130 lunar probes have been carried out, with a success
rate of only around 51 percent, Wu Weiren, chief designer of
China's lunar probe program, told Xinhua in an interview.